Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats .460 S&W Rifle

Has anyone here built a .460S&W rifle?

MI just legalized for the shotgun zone and I think it would be a fun build. I'm looking for any input from someone who has been down this road.

405wcf

Did they actually pass it? I thought it was still stuck in the House.

Yes, they did.

Straight walled case of at least .35 cal with a length of at least 1.16" not to exceed 1.80".

See page 17:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/hunting_and_trapping_digest_461177_7.pdf

405wcf

Wow, didn't know this! Looks like one of my .44 rifles will get used this year. Big Horn Armory is chambering their Model 90 lever action in .460, but you have to pony up $2700 for one. Probably a single shot would be the most economical. NEF used to chamber their Buffalo Classic in .45 Colt, it would be a simple re-chamber job.

Ruger made some #1s in .460 a few years ago. That would be fun.

Another option is to shorten a 45-70 case to 1.8" and seat the bullet long. Supposedly feeds fine in lever actions. The guys in IN have been doing it for a couple of years.

I have been looking for a reason to build another rifle, this qualifies!

405wcf

I hear ya 405. I'm gonna have to look into this too! I have several .45-70s. Interesting the .50-70 qualifies also.

In that case, I think the Ruger is the only one that made the 460 into a rifle.

I'm tempted to pick up a 454 lever action now.

A quick check on Gunbroker shows a Browning 1885 in .454, a T/C Encore rifle barrel in .460 and a Buffalo Classic in .45LC.

I suspect that the 1885 in .454 only needs to have the chamber re-cut to handle .460.

I think that .45LC NEF would be the same but I'm not sure if it'll handle the pressure. If it uses the SB 2 receiver then I think it would, they use it for the .500 S&W.

H&R/NEF dropped the .500 S&W a few years ago as the frames couldn't handle the cartridge for very long. It eventually caused the frame to stretch and they had lock up issues with it. I'd just buy the .357 and ream it to a Max chamber load 180 grain SSP bullets in it and go slay deer if you wanted a rifle fast.

This got me to thinking since I have many .45-70s, why not? So I shortened a couple cases to 1.80" and seated the bullets, Speer 350 & 400 gr, to the same OAL as a factory Remington 405 gr for dummies. They will run through my Marlin 1895 fine but without a crimp I don't know how they'd do in the tube magazine. However my Ruger No. 1 would have no such problem. I don't think it would be a problem getting them up to 1800 fps or so in the No. 1, which would do anything I need of it. Next step is to see if it would shoot decent with the short case. Guess I'll have to trim up a few more cases and try it. Anyone have any insight into this or have done it?

If you have deep pockets Big Horn Armory is making a 460 now.

http://www.bighornarmory.com/catalog/1/big-horn-armory-products/

405wcf-
Consider a bolt rifle chambered in 450 Bushmaster. The cartridge is OK under the new MI regulations. I've corresponded with several hunters in lower MI that have set up bolt rifles for the cartridge.

The 450B in a bolt rifle will take loads equal to the 460S&W. The data and factory 450B loads are set at a max of 39,500 psi. The factory loads are just fine, with 250 grains at about 2250 fps from a 20-inch bbl. The bolt rifle can go considerably higher.

I chambered a 1903 Springfield in 450B in 2008, and its worked well. In the 2014 hog hunt thread there's a photo of my pig whacked with a Barnes 200-grain FTX at 2750 fps.

Here's the rifle.
.

.
The rebarreling and chambering is pretty straightforward. The case head fits the bolt well. The Springfield holds one in the chamber and three in the magazine. Feeding is without problems if the bolt is operated smartly.

A short action bolt rifle should work fine.

Indiana adopted similar cartridge regulations about a year before Michigan, and several smiths there are chambering bolt rifles in 450B. Some are very well done and are priced accordingly:
http://bohmanarms.com/thumper/

Some smiths in New Zealand are using the cartridge also, some of them in suppressed rifles:
.

.

--Bob

Bullshooter, how much was that conversion? I'm very interested in a set-up like yours, and a rebarrel of an A-Bolt in a 45 cal.

HuntnShoot-

The 1903 conversion was sort of accidental. In 1987 I swapped a $20 piece of scuba equipment for the action and Williams rear sight. The Fajen stock was a $25 piece I put on a 1903A3 for a while, and then pulled off. I got excited making a 45 ACP rifle, and bought a 26" barrel that Numrich had on sale for about $30.

I did a favor for my gunsmith, and in exchange he threaded and installed the barrel, and chambered it in 45 ACP, back about 1990. The front sight came out of his junk box. I bought the 450 Bushmaster reamer and head space gauge from Manson for list price (around $200) in 2008, and the same gunsmith charged me $50 for the rechambering.

Three years ago we built another 450B on a rusty post-64 Model 70 action, using a 26-inch heavy straight-taper McGowen barrel in .451 with a 24-inch twist. It's installed in an army surplus Remington 40X rimfire stock. The barrel was about $200 and it's been fine. Several other 450B bolt rifles using McGowen barrels have been built successfully by other persons.

Some stories of other bolt builds are found on www.450bushmaster.net.

This is a pretty precise but not very helpful answer to your question about cost.
--Bob
edited for clarity

Puma 454 Casull

Take a look at the TC Pro Hunter Encore. They have the Khatadin in 460S&W and, with it's 20" barrel, it makes a very nice hunting gun. The 460 is highly under-rated IMHO. It always appeared to be over shadowed by the 500S&W but the 460 is much more versatile and can really reach out. I have rung my steel buffalo target at 350 yards with the 8 3/8" revolver and hold over was surprisingly small.

I went through a stress analysis of the Handi Rifle 12 years ago, and I find that really hard to believe. I am showing 200,000 psi in 45/70 would be ok.

I am looking for any stretched 500sw pics.... can't find....

The 500 S&W is still offered on the web site
http://www.hr1871.com/Firearms/Rifles/youth.asp

I can tell you that the Rem700, Win M70, Sav 110, and Mauser 98 all calculated to nearly the same strength...~~ 110,000 psi with belted magnums.

The Ruger #1 and handi rifle leave the bolt actions behind in when I calculate or test for strength.